14th Philippine International Balloon Fiesta

Last Valentines Day weekend, we went up north to Clark and Subic. The 1st agenda for Feb 14 was the 14th Philippine International Balloon Fiesta in Clark, Pampanga. We left home early because the balloon flight starts at 5:30 AM so before 5:00AM we were already in Clark, parked close to the main entrance and in a good spot to see the event.

5:47 AM, setup was in progress.

By 6:00 AM they started firing their burners.

When some of the balloon were partly inflated and the sun stretched its light, the program began with a large Philippine flag dropping from the sky guided by paragliders.

Up up and away!

Kelloggs hot air balloon

The giant elephant and Mount Arayat

Coffee anyone?

Smile : )

Want some Coke?

Helping the elephant get up.

Kakagigil! Let me take this home.

Three's company

Flying man walking.

Next stop - Subic.

Kanin Club Desserts

Here are some of the yummy Pinoy desserts that I like in Kanin Club (KC).

Turon KC. Their turon is short and stout. Kinda looks like fat lumpia togue, but full of yummyness you won't forget.

The crispy turon wrapper is glazed with caramel and stuffed with banana, ube jam (purple yam), buko (young coconut) strips, and sweetened beans. You can order the ala Mode version so you get a scoop of ice cream. It's like eating halo-halo minus the crushed ice - a dry halo-halo. The only thing missing is the slice of leche flan.

Maruya with Ice Cream. The humble banana fritters reinvented to a hot and elegant Pinoy dessert that is sprinkled with cinnamon and topped with a scoop of cold ice cream.

Saging ulit: Saba con Hielo. A sweet and tummy-filling cold treat perfect for our tropical weather .

A quick dessert stop-over this Valentines Day - Paseo de Santa Rosa or Alabang - hmm....

How to make turon and lumpia wrapper

I love turon - especially those with soft, ripe sliced banana, few strips of langka and crispy wrapper glazed with caramel. But just how are those thin turon wrappers made? How are lumpia or spring roll wrappers made? I thought these wrappers were made by roll pressing dough until it's super thin then baking it in an oven.

Well yes, they are made of dough, but they are not rolled thin to the desired thickness in microns. They just slam a chunk of slightly wet dough to a large hot plate so that when they lift the dough, a "dough print" (analogous to fingers making finger print) is left on the hot plate.

The thickness of the dough print is determined by how wet the dough is. This in turn determines how thick the wrapper would be.

In just a minute or two, your freshly made wrapper is done, ready to be the crispy outer cover of my favorite turon and lumpia.